Michelle Nazzal: Food Mythologies

Active Cultures invites you to Food Mythologies, an evening of conversation, reflection, and a meal organized by Oakland-based chef and designer Michelle Nazzal. Food Mythologies explores the transmission of food traditions, and how they create temporal and physical connections across generations. Through the lens of immigrant and diasporic cooks, land stewards, and cultural workers from the Los Angeles community, the program examines how genocide and displacement inform and shape these practices. Together, these stories weave tapestries of time, place, and familial history into personal mythologies. The evening begins in the olive allée of Arlington Garden with a conversation with Liana Aghajanian, Chris Jadallah, and Soha Yassine, facilitated by Nazzal, to speak to the pervasive effects of colonialism on food, land access, and tradition, both on their ancestral lands and in exile. Following a self-guided garden walk, we return to the allée for a shared meal. Food Mythologies is hosted in partnership with Arlington Garden in Pasadena and will include a program and resource designed by Nazzal.